EU3: United Autosports Silverstone preview

United Autosports will chalk up numerous "firsts" when the
American owned, British-based team contests the opening two rounds of the
FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone (May 1-2) -- a theme
the Audi Official "customer" outfit hopes to ...

United Autosports will chalk up numerous "firsts" when the
American owned, British-based team contests the opening two rounds of the
FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone (May 1-2) -- a theme
the Audi Official "customer" outfit hopes to continue over
the weekend.

Drivers Matthew Bell, Zak Brown, Michael Guasch and Mark Patterson will
all be making their FIA series debut; Bell will be making his United
Autosports debut and racing an Audi R8 LMS sportscar for the first time;
Guasch and Patterson will be racing at the famous English venue for the
first time with all four drivers debuting on the revised 3.67-mile
"new" Arena Grand Prix configuration -- to be officially
opened by HRH The Duke of York on Thursday (April 29); while of course
United Autosports will be making its debut in the 12-race, six venue FIA
series -- a championship won by an Audi R8 LMS last year in its
debut season.

After tests in Portugal, England plus France and having achieved top
results in a one-off British GT Championship appearance over the past
eight weeks since taking delivery of its brace of Audi R8 LMS sportscars
from the German manufacturer, the serious business in terms of achieving
FIA success now begins in earnest.

Two drivers share each car and must switch over during pit-stops between
23mins and 37mins into each 60mins race. The FIA GT3 European
Championship is adopting the new Formula One style points where the
top-10 cars and drivers are awarded points from 25 for a win down to 1pt
for 10th place. Both of the two 60-minute races score full points so the
maximum a driver and team can score from a weekend is 50 points. Success
ballast is also added to the top-three cars at the next meeting, with
20kg for a win, 15kg for 2nd and 10kg for 3rd.

Two one-hour practice sessions (12-1pm & 5-6pm) on Friday precedes a
50mins qualifying session on Saturday morning (9-9.50am) prior to Round
One (2.15pm) and then a second one-hour race on Sunday (12.15pm*). * All
times quoted British Summer Time (BST). The FIA GT3 European Championship
can be viewed "live" on television across Europe on Motors TV
and Bloomberg television, with all the races streamed "live"
on www.gt3europe.com

Meanwhile United Autosports was "formally launched" at West
London Audi this evening (Apr 27). Over 200 guests were in attendance at
the lavish Audi Centre in England, the largest in the world, including
Bernie Ecclestone, President and CEO of Formula One Management and
Formula One Administration.

#22 Molecule / Cerutti -- Audi R8 LMS

Michael Guasch (USA). Lives: Walnut Creek, California, USA:

"My aim is a top-10 finish. We're new to the series and the
tracks, and to the Audi R8 LMS for that matter. So long as we can score
points in both races that would be an ideal way to start the season.
After Silverstone, as we become more familiar with the R8 LMS, we will
gain momentum and overall position throughout the year. I'm looking
forward to racing at Silverstone. This will be the second Formula 1 venue
I have raced on, the other being Montreal in Canada. I think the new
changes to the track should level the playing field a little between us
and those who have plenty of Silverstone experience. I think we'll
be competitive but it won't be easy -- we'll just have
to bring our best game to the track."

Mark Patterson (USA). Lives: Bronxville, New York State, USA:

"Although Silverstone will be our first FIA GT3 race together,
I'll be shooting for the podium -- this has be our first
objective -- but as a season opener, scoring good points is
absolutely critical. We came close at Oulton Park in the British GT
series against some 'golden' competition but of course this
is now FIA series competition. No one driver or single team has an
advantage as we'll be racing on a 'new' configuration
of track at Silverstone which hopefully will be a nice leveler for us. We
tested on Silverstone's 'old' Grand Prix circuit last
month and that was successful with all of us getting down to competitive
lap times despite our lack of track knowledge."

#23 Remington -- Audi R8 LMS

Zak Brown (USA). Lives: Carmel, Indiana, USA:

"For United Autosports to be making its FIA Championship race debut
in England, the country where our team's raceshop is based, and
specifically at Silverstone, with its worldwide history and considered
the 'home' of British motor racing, is awesome. Finishing
near the front would be incredible but realistically I'd be very pleased
and satisfied if our cars were placed in the top-10 in both races. Our
FIA team was only formed a couple of months ago and has worked very, very
hard since getting the cars from Audi -- it would be fantastic if
these guys could be rewarded with good results."

"My aim is to do the best job that I can at Silverstone on my race
debut for United Autosports and driving the Audi R8 LMS. After just two
tests, I'm on a steep learning curve -- as is the team of
course with the new Audi. I think if we keep our focus on doing a good
job I'm confident the rewards will come. I'm really looking forward
to racing at Silverstone. We'll be entering into a new chapter of
Silverstone history by racing on the new Grand Prix configuration. I'm
looking forward to partnering Zak for the first time who did a great job
at Oulton Park. It should be a great weekend."

Richard Dean (GB), Managing Director & Co-Owner of United Autosports:

"The opening rounds of the FIA series at Silverstone have come
around very quickly! We are looking forward to finally finding out about
the opposition and where we will be competitively compared to our rivals.
United Autosports made its race debut in the opening rounds of the
British GT Championship over Easter. Those 'warm-up' races
were a valuable experience in preparation for the FIA GT3 European
Championship which is our main focus in the team's first year of
competition. We have tested intensively since getting our 2010
specification R8 LMS GT3 cars. Personally I can't wait to see our
two cars on the Silverstone grid!"